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Is This the Right Time To…?

In this economy, no one will blame you if you think Julia Hoagland is foolish, maybe even a bit crazy, for leaving one real estate firm and joining another. But that’s exactly what she did.

After four years as a top producer at the Corcoran Group, in February, 2009, Julia and her team, the Modern Luxury Living Partnership, joined Brown Harris Stevens, the only full service real estate firm serving both residential and commercial markets in New York City. Julia is a Senior Vice President.

Why did Julia leap now? Why did she leave the comfort and security of a company where she had established a stellar reputation among clients and colleagues?

Why would she take such a risk, especially in an uncertain real estate market?

After all, Julia is among the elite in her industry. While at the Corcoran Group, she grossed the highest amount in sales in her office of over 80 agents in both 2006 and 2008, and she consistently ranked in the top 2% of over 58,000 nationwide brokers for Corcoran's parent, NRT, Inc.

What was she thinking?

When I interviewed Julia on the Skillpreneur radio show this week, she delivered an Aha! moment that rings true for all of us, but more so for small business owners and entrepreneurs who get stuck trying to figure out the perfect time to hire a marketing professional, fire an underperforming employee, purchase a new software program, etc. (You fill in the blank.)

Julia got it exactly right when she said, “Get over the fear of what is going to happen in the future.”

You see, Julia’s not as crazy as you think. She was ready for the next step. She was ready to move on, so this wasn’t a flash-in-the-pan decision. Julia weighed her options carefully.

For Julia, this change was also about connecting with her passion and her authentic self. While most of us sit on the sidelines and watch the game, Julia is a player. To connect with her passion, she’s open to change. She’s not afraid to evolve. In fact, she earned a degree in Electrical Engineering and then worked in the financial industry on Wall Street before entering the real estate industry.

If you’re still searching for your authentic self, Julia’s advice might just help you find it.

• Love what you do. You cannot sell what you do not believe in. Julia practices what she calls a “passive sales process.” Simply put, when you’re passionate and you know what you’re talking about, you’re not selling. You’re offering valuable information instead of being in your prospect’s face.

• Understand what works and what doesn’t; then stay with what works.

• Don’t try to do everything yourself unless you want to be miserable. Get help. Leverage the expertise and experience of others.

• Avoid the herd mentality. Don’t do it because everyone else is. Do it because it’s right for you and your company.

• Nothing is perfect. Weigh the pluses and minuses of the situation, and then make a decision.

• Your team represents you. Trust in your ability to find talented people and let them know how talented they are.

To hear the rest of my interview with Julia Hoagland, you can listen to the replay on The Skillpreneur Show Wednesday, April 15, at 10 p.m. and Thursday, April 16, at 8 p.m. or visit the archives for all of the shows.

I host The Skillpreneur Show every Monday at 11 a.m. Listen live for Aha! moments as I ask questions and tap the expertise of small business owners who share their skills, knowledge, and know-how to help you grow your business. Replay every Wednesday at 10 p.m. and Thursday at 8 a.m. Sign up at our Web site to receive business tips, advice, resources and information about programs, events, and classes the ABEL Business Institute offers small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Are You The Solution to Their Business Problem?

On this week’s Skillpreneur Show, I interviewed Michelle Awuku, the owner of myfactor Coaching & Consulting. Michelle is a leadership development and career transition coach. She delivered this powerful Aha! nugget — one that all small business owners need to grasp if they want to position themselves as business leaders: “Be the solution to their (your market) business problem.”

Like me, Michelle is a business coach. And although we serve different markets, the biggest challenge we face is getting potential clients to see the value of our coaching services. To hit a prospect’s hot buttons, we have to think in terms of the “client experience.”

In other words, we have to think: What will my client gain from my services? What are the tangible results? How will the client feel? What is the client’s return on this investment?

For small business owners and entrepreneurs struggling to pinpoint the value of their services (this works for products, too), Michelle offers this simple formula to help prospects picture the end result: At the end of (this), my client will have (that).

For example, after assessing the situation, you can tell your prospect: “At the end of your three-month coaching session, you will have a marketing plan and a strategy to increase your company’s brand awareness in the New York metropolitan area. As your reputation and your client base grow, you’ll be ready to hire additional staff to take care of the tasks that no longer need your attention. As a result, you’ll have more time to develop and concentrate on what you love doing most.”

Of course, before making a commitment, prospects will want proof that you can deliver what you promise.

Examples of your work and testimonials are part and parcel of your promise. Michelle offers a no-cost, hour-long consultation to make sure she understands her prospect’s wants before suggesting a strategy to solve their problems.

A free consultation is OK when, like Michelle, you are starting out. But as your business grows, you’ll want to create less time-consuming ways to let potential clients taste what you have to offer.

I created the Mastermind Business Alliance (MBA) Group, which offers a free, three-month membership for small business owners and entrepreneurs that want guidance but aren’t ready to commit to one-on-one business coaching. The MBA Group allows business owners to brainstorm and test their ideas with other like-minded business owners in a nonthreatening environment.

The free, three-month trial membership creates a win-win situation for everyone because it weeds out the people who aren’t ready for or can’t see how they’ll benefit from my coaching services.

To hear the rest of my interview with Michelle and more about the importance of networking and how to move your business forward by “putting yourself out there,” you can listen to the replay on The Skillpreneur Show Wednesday, April 8, at 10 p.m. and Thursday, April 9, at 8 p.m. or visit the archives for all of the shows.

I host The Skillpreneur Show every Monday at 11 a.m. Listen live for Aha! moments as I ask questions and tap the expertise of small business owners who share their skills, knowledge, and know-how to help you grow your business. Replay every Wednesday at 10 p.m. and Thursday at 8 a.m. Sign up at our Web site to receive business tips, advice, resources and information about programs, events, and classes the ABEL Business Institute offers small business owners and entrepreneurs.

How to Put the WOW in Your Next Workshop

Paul Plamondon, a life coach and an expert in designing workshops, sure got my attention (Aha! moments) when he shared the key ingredients of producing high-energy workshops as I interviewed him on my Skillpreneur Show this week.

Since workshops are a powerful way to showcase your products and services to your customers and to reach profitable new markets, too, more and more business owners and entrepreneurs are using workshops to establish their expertise and create a competitive business advantage.

That’s a good thing.

The not-so-good thing is that business owners are jumping into the workshop pool before taking swimming lessons. And that’s how you drown.

If you think you can produce a turbocharged workshop because you’ve attended plenty yourself, think some more.

Think about the workshops you attended and what motivated you. Then think about the things that disappointed you. Were you able to use or adapt what you learned?

Before you make your big splash with a workshop, here’s Paul’s advice:

What’s in for them? You must build a workshop for your audience. It’s not about your marvelous material, but how your audience will benefit from your marvelous material. How will this workshop transform them? What will they become? What should they expect? What will they experience? This is how to connect with your audience.

Deliver an experience, not a lecture. Toss the old college lecture style of presenting out the window. Today’s audiences want to be engaged and entertained as they learn. Of course, each person in the workshop has a preferred learning style, so present your material in a variety of ways. Use audio, video, and visual material. Include hands-on experiences, discussions, role-playing and demonstrations. Create an experience. How will the participants feel at the end of the workshop?

Keep it simple. When you share your expertise to help others, the tendency is to pack too much information into the training. Unfortunately, a jam-packed brain shuts down, and that’s how you lose people. Focus on the experience. What will the participants be able to do when they leave your workshop? (Write a marketing plan? Hire an assistant?) Remember, at the end of the day, you want your participants to act on your information.

To hear the rest of Paul’s tips on designing a high-energy workshop that fires up your audience and how a life coach can make a difference in your life (surprise: a life coach does not give advice), you can listen to the replay on The Skillpreneur Show Wednesday, April 1, at 10 p.m. and Thursday, April 2, at 8 p.m. or visit the archives for all of the shows.

I host The Skillpreneur Show every Monday at 11 a.m. Listen live for Aha! moments as I ask questions and tap the expertise of small business owners who share their skills, knowledge, and know-how to help you grow your business. Replay every Wednesday at 10 p.m. and Thursday at 8 a.m. Sign up at our Web site to receive business tips, advice, resources and information about programs, events, and classes the ABEL Business Institute offers small business owners and entrepreneurs.

4 Networking Myths You Can’t Ignore

This week on Skillpreneur Talk Radio I interviewed Tom Cymbol, the Assistant Director of Manhattan BNI—a worldwide networking group for business professionals. A member myself since 2006, I’m the president of the chapter 9.

We talked about the power of networking and why small business owners and entrepreneurs miss business-building opportunities when they neglect networking.

We talked about the simple truth that separates successful networkers from frustrated networkers: You must build relationships based on trust, and that takes time.

If you’re disappointed with your networking efforts, you might be guilty of one or more of the following:

I have no reason to prepare. Networking is an investment. It pays off when you prepare to explain the benefits of your product or service…when you prepare to differentiate yourself with a tag line. (Mine is “Providing strategies and support for the evolution of your business.”)…when you prepare for your 60 second commercial and read it during introductions. That’s what I do. It prevents me from stumbling and mumbling my way through introductions. When you join a networking organization, prepare to give before you get.

It’s OK to show up in my gym clothes. You are networking with business professionals. You want to make a positive impression. Why would you show up in your gym clothes? Oh, because you’re going to the gym after the meeting? You are your brand. Is that how you want to represent it?

I am here to sell. Small business owners and entrepreneurs are busy, so they typically network with one goal in mind: to sell their products and services. Yes, the end game is to create more business. But you network to build long-term relationships that are built on trust. You create willing buyers so you don’t have to sell.

I expect instant results. This is the biggest networking myth of all. Networking is an investment that pays dividends when you help others, when you communicate how you can help, and when you follow up and build long-term relationships. Networking will build a business, but it takes time.

For more results-driven networking tips listen to the replay on Skillpreneur Radio Show Thursday, March 26, at 8 a.m.

I host a talk show every Monday at 11 a.m.  Listen live for Aha! moments as I ask questions and tap the expertise of small business owners who share their skills, knowledge, and know-how to help you grow your business. Replay every Wednesday at 10pm and Thursday at 8am. Sign up at our website to receive business tips, advice, resources and information about programs, events, and classes the ABEL Business Institute offers small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Being Positive in Your Positive Thinking

The term “Think Positive” has been so overused, that most people do not even think twice upon hearing the words themselves. Like many other invaluable pieces of good advice, the term “Think Positive” has landed itself in the realm of cliché. Yet, this could not be more unfortunate. For instance, let’s take another “good-advice-turned-cliché” – Carpe Diem. If one were to truly think about the message of Carpe Diem, one would undoubtedly find that the sentiment it conveys is a truly beautiful one. In essence, Carpe Diem reminds us to stop and look around us, appreciating all of the beauty and wonder of this world – it inspires us to not get bogged down neither by the negative nor the nonsensical. However, once Carpe Diem landed itself on coffee mugs and ball caps, the message seemed to become diluted.

An argument can be made that the phrase “Think Positively” shares the same fate, but I disagree.

What if I were to tell you that many people do not know the correct manner in which to think positively? If my statement sounds wild and unbelievable, let me present an experiment that you are encouraged to perform on your own: Ask yourself or someone close to you (a family member, business partner, colleague, etc.) to list what they would ideally like to result from their professional ventures, and pay close attention to the answers that you receive; more often than not, people will respond with what they don’t want rather than what they do want. For instance, someone might say:

“I don’t want to be affected by a flailing economy”, rather than “I want my business to rise above a flailing economy” – a positive spin on a statement of desire makes ALL of the difference.

If we focus on what we don’t want instead of what we do want, our focus becomes clouded. In most cases, we begin focusing on how to avoid (or do damage control on) a situation that hasn’t even happened! When we focus on potential failures and/or negative situations, we are distracted from making our dreams come true. For instance, let’s refer back to the previous example:

“I don’t want to fail as a result of a bad economy.”

There exists an infinite amount of actions that will prevent a business from failing. However, as a result of this vague statement of desire, a defined end result is not clear. Yet, if one were to say:

“I want my business to succeed!” An action plan can be developed in order to achieve that clear, positive goal.

Remember, positive thinking can only be achieved by thinking positively!

Take Action,

Ed

Operating Outside of the Bubble of Recession

What do the Hyatt Corporation, Burger King, International House of Pancakes (IHOP), The Jim Henson Company, LexisNexis, FedEx, Microsoft, CNN, MTV, Trader Joe's, Wikipedia, Sports Illustrated, General Electric, and Hewlett Packard have in common? If you have answered that they are all hugely successful, multi-billion dollar companies, then you are correct. However, a less obvious connection between all of these businesses is that they were all formed during a recession. That's right - all of these wildly successful companies were spawned during economic crises. Though the current state of our economy is certainly in less-than-ideal shape, with the right mindset, dedication, and innovation…success is always possible. As a business owner in these turbulent economic times, your main concern is to look at where opportunity exists with your product or service.

Every morning - as soon as we open our eyes and wake up -  we all make choices. We make a choice to get out of bed, we make a choice about what we will eat for breakfast, and we make a choice whether or not we will go to work, school, etc. We are faced with so many choices throughout the day, that we lose often lose track of most of them. Though some choices do indeed hold more value than others, the essence of choosing is simply making a decision. As a result of this statement, I pose this question to you:

"Will you choose to have your business operate outside of an ailing economy?" (and yes, the choice is that simple). Once you make that choice, create an Action Plan:

1.      What are you going to do differently?

2.      Which additional products or services might you offer to your clients?

3.      How will you secure your client base?

After you have created your Action Plan, imagine the jump that you'll have on your competition who might be acquiescing to this flailing economy. Remember, dedication and innovation are traits that require skill and practice: 

Take some time, sit down, and consider some plans of action to combat this recession; I'd love to hear some plans of action that you've established.

Best,

Ed